Occupy joins other protesters in march on Super Bowl Village
A mix of union members and Occupy protesters from across Indiana led a rally Saturday that began at the Statehouse before weaving through the crowded pre-game attraction. Speakers at the rally included two state representatives, a state senator and several union workers.
Indianapolis Education Association President Ann Wilkins told the crowd of about 75 protesters to remember which legislators voted for the right-to-work bill and vote them out in the November elections.
http://www.heartlandconnection.com/sports/story.aspx?id=713115
Police clash with Oakland protesters, 100 held
Riot police arrested more than 100 anti-Wall Street protesters during a series of clashes in the streets of Oakland on Saturday that saw officers in riot gear firing tear gas at activists who tried to take over a shuttered convention center.
Study: Finance industry execs rule political spending
Over the last 30 years, political contributions made by financial industry executives increased by 700 percent, according to new analysis by the watchdog Sunlight Foundation. Roughly 5,500 members of the finance, insurance, real estate sector (FIRE) gave $178.2 million to political committees and candidates during the 2010 election cycle, up from $15.4 million in the 1990 cycle.
Giving was concentrated most among securities and investment executives and, although tilted slightly toward Republicans, the finance-industry greenback geyser gushes in both directions of the political spectrum. Although the finance sector gave 54 percent of its cash to Republicans in 2010, it gave 51 percent of its cash to Democrats in 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/6oox5vz
Talk is cheap: UN trade chief wants less inequality
The U.N. trade chief urged global leaders Saturday to focus much more on reducing growing inequalities around the world than constantly looking to appease financial markets, which largely benefits the rich.
Supachai Panitchpakdi pointed to protests around the world from countries that launched the Arab Spring to the Occupy Wall Street movement in the U.S. that demonstrate the growing disparity between frustrated unemployed young people who have no voice and the financiers who reap huge salaries from dealings that don’t promote real economic growth.
http://tinyurl.com/74nrjk8
Quote of the day: ‘People will accept austerity if we also talk about growth’
Time to Break Up Zombie Bank of America
Does Bank of America pose a “grave threat” to America?
That’s what Public Citizen is arguing in a new petition to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Financial Stability Oversight Council, calling for the regulators to step in and break up the nation’s second-largest bank before it collapses and kicks off another financial meltdown.
http://tinyurl.com/7kq46nm
Occupy D.C. protests Alfalfa Club dinner, Obama at Capital Hilton
Hundreds of Occupy DC protesters lined up outside the Capital Hilton where President Barack Obama, other political leaders and business moguls attended the annual Alfalfa Club dinner. Police blocked off several streets around the hotel, and kept the protesters behind barricades.
http://tinyurl.com/7jdktz2
West Virginia Occupy: Governor weighs in on Occupy Century Aluminum protest
Governor Tomblin was in town for the Constellium event earlier this week, and weighed in on the face-off between the plant and its workers.
“It’s my understanding that talks are going on at Century over there. Especially with the retirees and so forth. There’s nothing we’d rather see than having that plant back in operation and all those people back to work again. So we’re just very hopeful that things can get worked out at century and get all of our workers back on the job,” says Governor Tomblin.
Tomblin says he supports a decision to re-open the plant that will help provide those benefits these retirees are so desperately seeking.
http://tinyurl.com/7nzmgtp
Occupy Long Beach launches donation drive for homeless schoolchildren
Due to a large influx of foreclosures, defaults and record unemployment, homelessness is on the rise nationally. Consequently, according to Occupy Long Beach, the number of homeless students in Long Beach as of the 2010-11 school year is approximately 5,300 students.
http://tinyurl.com/83rq9q9
Bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland spends millions on Washington lobbyists
The Royal Bank of Scotland has spent more than $4m (£2.5m) of British taxpayers’ money on lobbyists in Washington since it was bailed out by the government, documents disclose.
Both in-house and commercial lobbyists have been paid to influence American senators and congressmen reforming US finance law since the bank’s collapse and government bailout in October 2008.
The money has been handed over despite calls from ministers for RBS and other banks that have received taxpayers’ handouts to refrain from hiring public affairs firms.
Topless Protesters Detained At Davos Forum
Three topless Ukrainian protesters were detained Saturday while trying to break into an invitation-only gathering of international CEOs and political leaders to call attention to the needs of the world’s poor. Separately, demonstrators from the Occupy movement marched to the edge of the gathering and engaged in a brief standoff with police.
With temperatures around freezing in the snow-filled town, they took off their tops and tried to climb a fence before being detained. “Crisis! Made in Davos,” read one message painted across a protester’s torso, while others held banners that said “Poor, because of you” and “Gangsters party in Davos.”
http://tinyurl.com/7w98nhc